Men accused of using dating app to lure gay men to East Dallas apartment charged with hate crimes

Two Dallas men accused of using the dating app Grindr to lure gay men to their apartment, where they beat and robbed them, have been charged with federal hate crimes, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Wednesday.

Police arrested Daniel Jenkins and Michael Atkinson in August and charged them with 15 counts of conspiracy to commit hate crimes by kidnapping, carjacking, brandishing a firearm and aiding and abetting kidnapping, according to an indictment unsealed this week and obtained by the Star-Telegram.

The newspaper reported that Jenkins and Atkinson posed as gay men on fake Grindr profiles to draw the victims to the Solana Ridge Apartment complex in the 8000 block of Chariot Drive in East Dallas. Jenkins would meet the men in their cars and invite them inside, where the pair stole their wallets, cars, cell phones and identification documents.

Jenkins and Atkinson pointed guns at some of the men and beat them, according to the Star-Telegram. One was sexually assaulted with an object, and another was forced to drive to an ATM at gunpoint. In another instance, one man was urinated on and feces were wiped on him, the newspaper wrote from the indictment.

Nine victims, ranging in age from 19-57, were affected during the first two weeks of December 2017, according to the Star-Telegram.

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